The fire gutted the car and blew out one of its windows before the councilor, Gevorg Stepanian, rushed out of his apartment block and extinguished it with the help of his neighbors. The electric vehicle formally owned by Stepanian but driven by his wife was parked in front of the building.
“When police arrived and opened the door, we saw a wooden stick with a rag wrapped around it and soaked with gasoline in there,” said Stepanian.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said later in the day that it has launched an inquiry into deliberate damage or destruction of property. The law-enforcement agency did not immediately identify any suspects.
Stepanian, who is an outspoken critic of Yerevan’s municipal administration controlled by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s Civil Contract party, described the attack as a retribution for his political activities.
“I have a problem with these authorities: Civil Contract and [its coalition partner] Hanrapetutyun,” he told reporters. “They only care about filling their pockets. We must liberate Yerevan from Civil Contract and hold fresh elections.”
“Nobody, whoever they are, will be forgiven for terrorizing my wife and my three children,” Stepanian said, pledging to redouble his efforts to fight against what he sees as widespread corruption within the municipality.
Mayr Hayastan, which finished third in the last municipal election held in 2023, echoed the accusation in a statement.
“This is a criminal-political attack against Mayr Hayastan, which is not the first and has manifested itself in various ways,” claimed the opposition group.
Armen Galjian, who leads the Civil Contract group in the city council, was quick to condemn the arson attack. A member of the group, Levon Levonian, ruled out any political motives behind it.
“To accuse Civil Contract of such deeds is unacceptable and dishonest,” Levonian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “I officially state that Civil Contract has never used and will never use such methods.”
Mesrop Manukian, another Mayr Hayastan councilor, insisted, however, that the attack was the result of impunity enjoyed by government loyalists. He argued, in particular, that the head of Yerevan’s northern Nor Nork district, Tigran Ter-Margarian, was not fired despite beating up a video blogger critical of the municipal administration last week.
The assault happened just days after the blogger, Artur Chakhoyan, and Manukian shot and publicized a video showing a public kindergarten in Nor Nork that was renovated earlier this year but is already falling into disrepair. Ter-Margarian responded by threatening and swearing at the two men in a phone call the audio of which they shared with reporters.